Making Second Life profitable...question

Linden Labs and its new CFO are looking for ways to increase the profitability of Second Life. I applaud this: if Second Life doesn't generate a profit for its maker, then its long-term viability is suspect.

However, it seems that the strategy to date is to load more and more fees onto the subscription-paying minority. This is done while granting nearly identical features, access, and privileges to the non-paying majority. The end result is that many of those who pay to be residents of Second Life are beginning to feel like suckers.

Why should someone who pays nothing to enter Second Life have access to all the same features and capabilities that a paying resident has? More to the point, why should anyone bother paying a monthly fee when they get almost every feature of the world for free?
To me, a free resident should be limited in the scope and depth of their abilities. Not just land ownership, but other things: size of inventory, perhaps, or ability to create scripted objects. A free account should let you go places and do things, but it should not have all the abilities that a paying resident has. I've heard the excuse that some people can't afford a monthly fee...sad (although how they can afford a high end computer and broadband Internet, I have no idea), but at point did paying residents put a big stamp on their foreheads saying "charity giver"?

Instead, what seems to be happening is that the existing paying residents are being looked at to pay more and more. These payments are then used to further subsidize the resources consumed by those who pay nothing for their time in Second Life.

My question: will Linden Labs consider ways to make becoming a paid resident more appealing by associating paid accounts with features and priviliges such as large inventory capacity and certain scripting abilities? And will they likewise quit seeing existing paying residents as cash cows willing to pay for hundreds of thousands of free residents with exactly the same priviliges and features as they have?

Hiya Tomas,

If you're referring to "Premium Accounts", then the answer is: we've been looking at this for a long time, specifically making the Premium Account more value-added and attractive and benefits beyond ability to own land and a stipend. We haven't gotten to the point where we have further details to roll out, but "large inventory capacity" has certainly been brought up numerous times as an *idea*.

So yes, we're currently considering the possibilities -- any changes will be announced on our Official Linden Blog as usual.